picnic'ing, picnic'ing YEAH

Closing activities of the semester have officially commenced. how terribly sad.

The first of the end of the year festivities was a picnic in our favorite park with our host families. The families all brought their own snacks and dinners and we sat on the top of the hill in the park in the beautiful Wednesday afternoon/evening sunshine. Apparently, it has rained every semester for the past 2 years.  We had beautiful weather!!! None of knew what to expect, but since my family has had 30 students, they are seasoned pros! Unfortunately, some students families either were unable to make it (understandable) or just didnt come (completely ridiculous).  I felt so bad for my friends who got to see everyone interacting with and eating with their families.  My host mom's cousin, Josettte is the host mom to my friend Molly and their neighbor Colette is my friend Clare's host mom. So theyre all friends and we all sat together and dined on homemade pizza, quiche, tomatoes and mozarella, eggs, bread, cheese and sausage of course! It was so cute to see all the host families hanging out--gossiping no doubt.  We all swap stories about our host families, naturally, and all of my friends are jealous of my wonderful situation and my beyond hilarious host dad.

lookin' like a G in the hat I almost convinced him to buy

They were all really excited to meet him-- which made me nervous cause I needed him to live up to their expectations. and boy did he.  He was in rare form.. giving me wet willies (a trick i mistakenly taught him) and cracking jokes about me, la princesse de le sud, and he made jokes about me being a monkey, a member of the KKK and a little slow because I am from the south. HAHAHA. I really just love this guy so much. One of the host dads brought his drums, amplifier and his 2 young English friends and they had a nice jam sesh while games of frisbee and rugby were started with students and host siblings alike.  Some professors even came and brought their children.  It really was such a wonderful evening.  I had so much fun laughing with the host families of my friends even and a few of the host mothers and I gawked over a TIME magazine I stole from the school library of the Royal Wedding. We talked about their hats, her dress, his hair loss, oh it was great fun!!

Sarah (Boston), moi, Lindsay (Colorado), Molly (New York), Clare (New York)

Tonight is the closing, awards ceremony at the Hotel de Ville (our pregame spot before soirée activities) and we get to get dressed up and meet the mayor!! I am looking forward to it... but it also means that the end of the semester is really upon us and the dream of an extended, cultural vacation that we have been living is coming to an end ... :(

Oh well.. like Scarlett O'Hara said "Oh well, I cant worry about that now.. Ill worry about that tomorrow"

Im just looking forward to the weekend! ... and if you have been living under a rock in the past weeks and haven't heard this song that has gone viral for its horrifically composed lyrics yet surprisingly catchy tune.. then here it is for your TGIF blues